Cyclops Cluster
The Cyclops Cluster is heavily industrialized Imperial sub-sector whose origins date back to the sixth decade of the Great Crusade. It is located at the north-eastern border of the Segmentum Obscurus with the Ultima Segmentum and is counted amongst the wider region of the Coronid Deeps of the famed Gothic Sector. Designated -- according to legend -- by the hand of the Emperor Himself for further colonisation and exploration, the Cyclops Cluster quickly rose to prominence, being only overshadowed by the might of the neighbouring Manachean Commonwealth. With those planets of the Manachean Commonwealth, the Cyclops Cluster formed the heartlands of the Coronid Deeps, far more advanced and valuable then those planets of importance within the Grail Abyss or the Coronid Reach. Through its great amount of mineral wealth, the world of Dominica Minor quickly rose to become the regional power to which other planets looked for guidance. Given its economic output it should then have come as no surprise that the Cyclops Cluster would become the first Imperial sub-sector to come under attack by Traitor forces in the opening year of the galactic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. History In stark contrast with the neighbouring worlds of the Manachean Commonwealth - whose history stretches back into the Dark Age of Technology - but with notable exceptions such as the worlds of Mezoa, M'Pandex and Dark Haven; the Cyclops Cluster has only been recently colonised by humanity when the Great Crusade reached this region of space in the late 800s of the 30th Millennium. This is perhaps best explained by the Cyclops Cluster’s topography, which features only few readily inhabitable worlds for such a vast stretch of space. The Cluster however proved rich in mineral wealth and other much needed ressources which made it a valuable prize for the ever-growing Imperium. Apart from the Mechanicum Forge World of Mezoa, the Cyclops Cluster suffered little from the depredations of the xenos empire known as the Mitu Conglomerate which was successfully annihilated by the Emperor’s armies. In the aftermath of this campaign the Cyclops Cluster received the visit of sevreal Expeditionary Fleets, amongst these both the 611th an 7th Expeditionary Fleet, the latter proving the more active. Under command of Commander Suleiman Grimm of Legiones Astartes Ist Legion, the 7th Expeditionary Fleet would rally such worlds as Dark Haven and Mezoa and peacefully obtain their Compliance before sailing northwards to the Grail Abyss. . The Cyclops Cluster lies in the southwestern corner]]As the Cyclops Cluster's wealth gradually became more widely known, the new subsector became one of the new priority targets for the Imperial colonization effort, counting as it did two fully-fledged Forge Worlds amongst its ranks and dozens of promising star systems ready to be exploited. Colonists however needed to be shipped in from various regions of the Imperium’s more settled heartlands, requiring the transport of entire planetary populations, much of them translating through the dormotory world of Moab before being shipped to their final destination. Soon the Cyclops Cluster counted sixteen primary grade industrialised worlds and no less than ninety-three distinct ressource extraction zones. By the end of the Great Crusade, the Cluster had become a powerhouse of activity, its economical output being only surpassed by that of the Manachean Commonwealth. Harsh production quotas had been imposed on most worlds of the Cyclops Cluster whose populations had to toil hard to meet them. This natuarally bred insatisfaction which was often brutally repressed by imposition of martial or Mechanicum law. Local power was nearly inexistant, Dominicia Minor's rise to this position manifesting only in the decades immediately preceeding the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. For much of its existence the Cyclops Cluster was hence governed by Imperial authorities residing in the Segmentum Solar, which did not fail to breed embittered and resentful populations that came to view the Imperium as uncaring,distant and harsh masters that gorged themselves on their misery and labour. As a result petty worker revolts and strikes were commonplace decades before the Warmaster’s treachery, the brutal repressions by Imperial power only perpetuating the vicious circle Horus would eventually prey upon at the dawn of the Heresy. The Horus Heresy As one of the most productive regions of the wider Coronid Deeps, it was only a question of time until the Cyclops Cluster would come under attack by traitorous forces, the Cluster harbouring not only two fully-fledged Forge Worlds but also countless mining and exploitation facilities as well as a few Agri-Worlds that would form an ideal power base for Horus’ shadow empire. Other factors also spoke for rapid invasion of the Cyclops Cluster; firstly because the Warp-routes to the Cluster were well-known and still free of the ever-increasing turbulences that began to plague Warp-traffic and secondly because the Cyclops Cluster formed a perfect stepping stone to Horus’ ultimate goal in this region, the conquest of the Manachean Commonwealth and the Armada Imperialis Port Majoris at Port Maw. What would become known as the "Scourging of the Cyclops Cluster" would then stand as the first chapter of the Manachean War. Ennemies at the Gates As a frontier realm of the Imperium, the worlds of the Cyclops Cluster were well used to prolonged and hightened states of alert, as xenos raids and other calamities - while infrequent - were fairly common. However, as the highest alert level was ordered throughout the Gothic Sector, few were deemed trustworthy enough to be privy to the true reasons why this heightened state of alert was ordered: the Warmaster’s rebellion. So it was that the worlds of the Cyclops Cluster and their billions of inhabitants turned ever onward in blissful ignorance of the dire events happening on Istvaan V. While security codes and targetting matrixes had been changed swiflty as a matter of precaution, these measures would ultimately prove futile. War came to the Cyclops Cluster in 006.M31. This was no massed assault by one of the Traitor Legions - not yet - or even its allies amongst the Imperial Army but a serie of raids led by forerunners of Horus host. These attacks mainly focused on Imperial worlds isolated from immediate and major support, or left vulnerable by the growing turmoil of civil war. It is generally believed that Horus intended this both as a fully-fledged military campaign to weaken the Imperium and establish a powerbase from where to advance, as well as spreading fear and terror to further destabilise the wider Coronid Deeps, an action which infiltrators had already actively begun. One of the most dreaded of these forerunners would soon prove to be the Ikon, an Eclipse-class battlecruiser of the Sons of Horus Traitor Legion. The Ikon was responsible for the enforcement of the first Dark Compliance on the world of Gethsamaine Colonus. The Ikon penetrated the Gethsamaine-system shortly after a loyalist Emperor’s Children frigate, the Malin Dawn which was being investigated by Gethsamaine’s two defence monitors. Emerging from the Warp alongside the 507th Attack Squadron of the Armada Imperialis, the Ikon quickly vanquished the monitors before destroying the planets astrophatic relay and orbital defences, thus leaving the planet without major defences. As a thriving civilised world, Gethsamaine was far from helpless and its sizeable planetary defence forces and orbital batteries were soon ready to repel ennemies, yet the Sons of Horus did never set foot on Gethsamaine, nor did they blast the world’s cities to rubble from orbit. As soon as its work of destruction was completed, the Ikon made way for the system’s jump point, but before she left, her captain left a message, a dark ultimatum which would be repeated across the Cyclops Cluster and in a hundred other star systems in the years to come. With the destruction of Gethsamaine’s atrophatic relay, all poursuit was hopless, the Ikon having long since departed until such time that naval command at Lascal or Dominica Minor could be informed. Soon isolated ships and even entire convoys travelling through the northern regions of the Cluster began to declared first overdue and then lost, no doubt destroyed or waylaid by maraudeurs such as the Ikon. It was when attempting to warn the worlds of these regions that it was discovered that several frontier outposts could not be raised. The tale of Gethsamaine’s fate was soon amplified and retold amongst those merchantmen, void-travellers and even Armada Imperialis-ships set to hunt down the Ikon and her companions. The seed of fear had been sown. At the Eve of War With the news of the Gethsamaine Dark Compliance getting more widely known the Cyclops Cluster girded itself for war. On every world, vigilance and readiness levels were increased and hundreds of auspexes and astrotelephatic auguries began to survey the sky for any trace of the Horusite vessels. Incoming reports were all channelled through to the centralised Imperialis Armada command facilities at Lascal and Dominica Minor. As communication increased, the wider picture became apparent. The Ikon had reemerged from the Warp at Taracanis in the Manachean Commonwealth and offered its bleak words to its Imperial Commander, but not before having blasted the world’s docking station from orbit, sending thirteen thousand civilians into a fiery death. In the Grail Abyss, the observers from Shoar witnessed an orbital battle lasting several hours between several Capital class ships before both parties simply vanished. Closer to home, in the Zavarich-system a hulking Domar-class Mass Conveyor carrying enough processed nutritients to feed several millions simply disappeared without a trace en route to its assigned Warp transit point - undoubtedly to cause civilian unrest or food riot elsewhere within the Imperium. On Moab, the ruling water-barons were confronted with a flare of insurrectionnist activities that led to a full-scale revolt, the mob chanting the Warmaster’s name. Only the instigation of planetary martial law and a bloody five week pacification pogrom. Dark-hulled vessels have been reported sighted in the skies above Dark Haven, shortly before all contact with the planet was lost. In the growing climate of scrutiny and distrust which had by now engulfed the Cyclops Cluster and other regions of the Coronid Deeps came - finally - a news long over-dued: the word of the Dropsite Massacre on Istvaan V. Horus, the Warmaster had entirely destroyed three of the mighty legions arrayed against him, while four more had joined him in rebellion. The reaction to this report was immediate: panic. On a scores of worlds planetary ruler now looked fearful to the skies, imagening the might of the Traitors ready to strike on their soil. Planets which had long been used to operate largely independently from each other now became isolationnist and insuler, in some cases even withdrawing their troops and tithes from the Armada Imperialis general plan of defence, severely disrupting the Imperial war effort as they vainly sought to fortify their homes. On some worlds the news of the Warmaster’s crushing victory faned the spark of ambition and revolt and factions long believed subdued reemerged to claim their world’s sedition from the Imperium or their new-found allegiance to the Warmaster. In this state of turmoil a number of strange and unheeded reports arrived at Lascal, Dominica Minor and even Port Maw or where deliberately withheld by the sense of growing paranoia. The most dire of these reports all came from the Grail Abyss, which only served to heighten fear-levels in the neighboring Cyclops Cluster. On Keopsis, these reports stated, both Loyalists and Traitors were locked in combat and desperate race to reach the underground cities before its sun’s angry fires scorched its surface clean in its endless cycle of life and death. On Hialis, a mysterious and highly virulent plague decimited its inhabitants within a few hours of the passing of a previously unknown comet. Above an unidentified feral world in the vicinity of Fellwatch Keep - one of a serie of fortresses designed to watch he borders of the Coronid Prohibition Zone - a mighty dragon-prowed Battle-Barge perhaps once emerald and gold, now scorched cinder-black was seen taking on supplies but vanished before any interceptor vessels could reach it. As the fear and paranoia gave birth to violence and civilian unrest, bloody pogroms and emergency laws were enacted, workers and inhabitants were conscripted into defence militias and transplanetary trade suspended. As a coherent structure within the Imperium, the Cyclops Cluster began slowly to unravel, each world looking after its own rather than find strength in unity. The Emissary of Mars As was to become known much later, while the Ikon and her brethren began to sow fear and terror amongst the worlds of the Grail Abyss, during the closing quarter of 006.M31, the Cyclops Cluster received a very different type of visit: an official emissary from the Red Planet. Horus's many Dark Mechanicum Ambassadors]] Forge Worlds stand apart from the other worlds that make up the Imperium; their allegiance goes to the Fabricator-General of Mars and not to the Emperor on Terra; theirs is an empire both distinct and intricately woven into the fabric of the Imperium. As hives of technological research and industrial might their strategic value is unsurpassed except perhaps by the most important Hive Worlds and their contributions to the Imperium are many: mighty warships, armies of cybernetically augmented fighters and battle-automata, supplies for the Emperor’s armies, the destructive glory of the Collegia Titanica and many more. On a political level however, Forge-Worlds tend to be highly isolationist, more intend on meeting their production quotas and growth projections than worrying about the Imperium’s security or future. While Dominica Minor could not hope to rival the military might of Mezoa, or the industrial output of M’Pandex, it was still considered the capital world of the Cluster, a position neither Mezoa nor M’Pandex had sought to usurp. While the alarm spread through the Cyclops Cluster, both Forge Worlds had continued to labour, taking little or no interest in the surrounding turmoil. Perhaps by design, Horus’ forerunners had yet to strike a world of importance for the Forge World’s logistical supply lines, thus leaving the Forge World blissfully unaware of the wider situation. Such it was that both Mezoa and M’Pandex received the visit of the Emissary of Mars. In both cases the ambassador presented itself under the name of Regulus -- which is widely believed to be an alias as several entities bearing that name have been recorded in different locations at the same time. The original Regulus had been a senior Tech-Priest of the Mechanicum of Mars which had given his domains over to Kelbor Hal as to better roam the stars at the side of Horus Lupercal. This had been long before the betrayal at Istvaan V, an there could be very little doubt on whose authority this emissary now acted. Yet, Regulus was still a senior Archmagos of the Omnissiah and neither his presence, nor his words could be discarded lightly. The Forge Worlds in the Cyclops Cluster were ignorant of the brutal Schism of Mars and that Kelbor Hal had thrown in his lot with the Warmaster, but it remains doubtful if further knowledge on that matter would have considerably influenced on the events to take place. On M’Pandex the emissary was greeted with great reverence and courtesy and almost immediately led to a private audience with M’Pandex ruler, the High Ourteka of the Golden Forge. The emissarry identified himself as Regulus and bore dual patents of authority: the first from his Warmaster and the second from the hand of Kelbor Hal, the Fabricator-General of Mars, voice of the Omnissiah and supreme pontifex of the Mechanicum. To the High Ourteka, Regulus made both an offer and a demand; the demand was for fealty, as Kelbor Hal - their rightful leader - bid them to obey the orders of the Warmaster as if they were his own and to offer up their armies, their craft and the fruits of their forges to Horus while offering shelter and supply to his warships and deny all these ressources to those that had remained loyal to the Throne of Terra. Those Imperial Commanders not yet subjugated or destituted were already demonstratively squabbling amongst themselves, further convincing the High Ourteka that the way of stability, progress and obedience laid with Horus. If this hadn’t been enough already, Regulus had not come empty-handed as he bore valuable gifts to sway the High Ourteka: STC technologies discovered during the late Great Crusade and never shared with the wider Mechancium; but most importantly Regulus made a promise, the promise that Horus would protect and sustain them, that Horus would free the Mechanicum from the strict tenures of the Treaty of Olympus Mons and give them the freedom to pursue the technologies and arcana they craved but the Emperor - in his intolerable cruelty - had denied them. On M’Pandex, a world which owed much to Mars, these offers were sufficient to sway the High Ourteka. On his sole authority - without consulting M’Pandex synod of Magos for confirmation - was the Forge World pledged to the Warmaster. As was to be expected, some quarters resisted violently to these new orders, but M’Pandex history had been written in times of internecine conflicts such as these and any resistance was swiftly crushed by the High Ourteka’s loyal Martian Skitarii and a detachment of sacred Battle-Titans drawn from the Legio Mortis - initially deployed to aid in the world’s protection and now the High Ourteka’s personal enforcers. This new-found allegiance was kept secret from Imperial authorities and outsiders while M’Pandex covertly girded itself for war. The reception which greeted he Emissary of Mars at Mezoa, however, could not have been more stark in contrast than tot hat at M’Pandex. Regulus found a star system already geared for siege and conflict; his warp runner was stopped at the outer edge of the system and forbade entry on the threat of immediate destruction. Mezoa had ever been a militant system, born in the ferocious wars of the Great Crusade and fashioned as much as a fortress as a centre of macro-industry, its Magos fiercely independent from their kin elsewhere and just as fiercely loyal to the ideals of the Imperium whose expansion they served. Here, simple obedience to the Fabricator-General would not sway the Pentarchy of Archimandrites that ruled this world. Forced to communicate via only the most primitive two-way vox-circuit with a hulking Mezoan battle-sphere rather than directly with the Forge World, and under the condition that any attempt at other communication or the passage of data-djinn or other influence over the circuit would result in immediate annihilation, Regulus nevertheless argued his case and extended his demand of fealty and his offers. In response, the Pentarchy offered a blunt rejection of the Warmaster and a formal secession from the authority of Mars. Further, they called both Regulus and Kelbor Hal apostates as well as blasphemers in the eyes of the holy Omnissiah and pronounced them and any that served under their command under sentence of death should they ever try to enter the system of Mezoa. As Regulus was forced to flee the system, a single word of judgement echoed through the still-open vox-channel: "Heretek". The Blockade of Mezoa Mezoa’s refusal was the first major setback for the Warmaster, as the system itself was not only nigh-impregnable, but the Forge World also commanded a number of valuable ressource extraction plants and powerful allies such as the Imperial Knights of House Hermetika. This news could not be afforded to become widely known unless it became a rallying call for other loyalist systems. So it was that Mezoa’s denial was not widely broadcasted but almost immediately cordoned off. M’Pandex, Mezoa’s long-time rival, had covertly been building up its military strength: its production capacities had been considerably geared up to feed the ever-growing hunger of Horus’ armies and Loyalist and merchant ships passing through its space were seized and impounded. Few of these ships had real military value, but their cargo holds held valuable ressources to fuel M’Pandex building-up of its own Taghmata. In this regard the merchant vessels carried an even more valuable asset: its own crew and passenger. These were captured and forcibly converted into adsecularis slaves, to add to M’Pandex Taghmata or to toil in whatever mine or forge needed reinforcing. Soon these captured ships were recrewed with men and servitors loyal to M’Pandex and operated under false flag to possibly infiltrate and attack Mezoa’s supply-lines, an action which also required the involvement of M’Pandex warships. In addition to this already sizable fleet, more shadowed and in some case unidentified forces - obviously loyal to the Warmaster - began to invade the various star systems supplying Mezoa as to cut off the reluctant Forge Worge from its primary ressources. Wherever tactically sound and possible, the Mechancium of Mezoa resisted actively; although it steadfastly refused to marshal its full force and to leave the security of its own home world. The attacks on its far-flung outposts and mines were justly regarded as bait by the Pentarchy of Archimandrites. Instead, Mezoa’s garrisoned forces and outposts were ordered to resist until destruction. On far flung mining stations and on the decks of mass transporter vessels, the forces of the two Forge Worlds - always rivals but never before enemies - clashed in mortal combat. Mercy was not to be found in either sides’ circuit-augmented hearts and where the adsecularis cohorts of M’Pandex marched against the numerically fewer but indefinetely more lethal centuries of Mezoa’s Thallaxi. It is noteworthy that to outsiders this clashes seemed to be a civil conflict between the Mechanicum rather than the opening move in a wider game. On Juiya and Gunnar’s Rock refinery stations burned, while on New Providence thousands of fleeing vapour-mill workers were caught between the advancing lines of Krios tanks and slaughtered needlessly in the withering crossfire of blazing energy weapons as both sides utterly ignored them, as if they had all the cosequences of stalks of wheat caught in a hurricane. Believing in an internecine conflict between two rival Mechanicum fractions, doubts and confusion stayed the Armada Imperialis’ hand until it was too late. The conquered worlds and the valuable ressources they harboured were mostly seized by M’Pandex to further aid their own expansion. By the end of 006.M31 Mezoa had been almost entirely cut off from its colonies with the notable exception of Juiya. By now the system’s outer edges was teeming with warships like sharks having smelled blood in the water. Yet the enemy stayed its hand: Mezoa was still dangerous and too powerful and fortified to be taken, even by a force as large as a fully marshalled Expeditionary fleet, but once effectively cut off from aid and from giving aid to others, the threat had been effctively neutralised. Time now played in favour of the Warmster as the blockade would continously weaken the Forge World’s defences until such time as sufficient forces could be gathered as to silence Mezoa definitely. Mezoa’s blockade would however soon be noticed on other worlds, especially those depending on Mezoa’s production capabilities. On Port Maw, the powerful Port Maioris of the Armada Imperialis situated in the neighbouring sub-sector, matters had steadily worsened - without the supplies imported from Mezoa, Port Maw’s stock of macro-ordonnance shells was becoming dangerously low. Fleet command had begun formulating a plan of attack to break the blockade and address these matters, but events took a turn for the worse. Dire news reached Port Maw through garbled astrophatic messages originating from Lascal in the Grail Abyss. Previously a number of reports of worlds "going dark" had come out of this region and the stars bordering it, but to the authorities on Port Maw and Dominica Minor the Abyss’ strategical value had been too small, too unimportant to squander its finite ressource in warships while the proverbial wolf was already at their own door. Now such parochial thinking had born dark consequences, and without a warning a massive fleet had torn out of the Empyrean at the edge of the Lascal system, and there would be no time to rally reinforcements to meet it. Much of the strategic detail of what was to be Lascal’s last broadcast had been lost to the soul-static of the Warp, but what images and allegories remained were clear enough: bleak warship after bleak warship, slab-grey and bone-white, stained and pitted with the scars of ancient battles and their recents acts of infamy. Alongside these were Warp-carried images of the death’s head and the black sunburst, the scythe of the reaper. The Death Guard Legion had come for the Cyclops Cluster. The Death Guard unleashed Planets of the Cyclops Cluster *'Dominica Minor' - Only inhabitable planet in a solar system compromising several gas-giants and other planets whose alchemical atmospheres could readily be exploited, Dominica Prime was essentially an immense network of gas and alchemical refineries whose output flowed to the Mechanicum worlds of Mezoa and M’Pandex. With its output numbering in the billions of litres, Dominica Prime wealth grew considerably becoming the uncontested regional power at the beginning of the 31st Millennium. While militarily speaking it could not rival with worlds such as Mezoa or the Hive Worlds of the neighboring Manachean Commonwealth, Dominica Minor could boast with its own substantial defense infrastructure, orbital shipyards and defense vessels, which would all be ravaged by the Traitor Death Guard Legion in what was to be known as Death on Dominica Minor. *'Bleak Harbor' - Bleak Harbor is a Scavenger-type colonized world that was long ago known as "Auricalla" and whose location was included in ancient navigational datacores dating back to the Dark Age of Technology. In ancient tales and legends, Auricalla was described as a haven of civilisation and progress, an exemplar of Mankind’s capabilities and genius and thus became one of the many valuable civilization to contact,yet when Imperial Explorators reached the planet they would only find tumbledown ruins and semi-flooded wastelands seeded with the rusting wreckage of continent-spanning macro-machinery and the scattered bones of the dead. The ultimate fate of the lost civilisation of Auricalla remains unclear, it would seem however that no outside interference is to blame for Auricalla's fate : no war to topple its sky-scraping pires, no hateful xenos breed to ravage its cities or epidemy to decimate its population. It would appear that society simply collapsed, regressed and tore itself apart as the result of some cataclysmic climate change that brought first inundations and then famine. No one knows for sure when this cataclysm happened, and it could very well be that Auricalla's demise dates back to centuries before the Imperium was even founded. By the time the Great Crusade reached this world, it has long been stripped from any valuable or technological remains. Nevertheless the planet was colonised and used as a transit layover and port of last resort which contributed to give it its current name; salvation operations are still conducted in the vast ruins of once magnificent cities, but Bleak Harbor makes for a dire place to live. Bleak Harbor is almost entirely covered in half sunken ruins, swamps and rust-wastes. While nominally an independent world with its own Imperial Commander, Bleak harbour lacks a stable population and those who live there are a desperate breed. Bleak Harbour's Imperial Commander has no notewothy resource to call upon and his world is indeed a dangerous place to live and where the law is not enforced as it should. Bleak Harbour's hinterlands and rust-wastes are a notorious haven for petty hereteks, escaped prisoners and outlaws drawn there from all across the Cyclops Cluster. Bleak's Harbor situation was almost anarchic even before the Horus Heresy broke out, so that its current fate remains unknown. *'Dark Haven' - Dark Haven is an odd world, an exceptional if strange orb in an otherwise lifeless region of the Cyclops Cluster. The planet has been classified a Death World by Imperial cartographers because of its inherent toxicity to unaltered human life. Covered in vast forests of fungal nature which absorb every iota of light in whose shadow hulking ambulatory mycolidae and other less well-understood predators lurk, this "dark haven" has nevertheless been colonised by the Lucien Mechanicum which established it as a Knight World. The planet was given over to the stewardship of House Orhlacc, once but a minor Knight Houses of Lucius that has since grown to power. Due to its untenable strategic position, Dark Haven was evacuated during the Horus Heresy, House Orhlacc seizing ships that made its relocation into the Agathean Domain possible. Since the end of the Heresy House Orhlacc has maintained a token force on their new home of Wychval, but it is believed that the bulk of House Orhlacc has since returned to Dark Haven. *'Endicott' *'Gethsamaine' - In the 41st Millennium Gethsamaine has become the capital of its own Sub-sector, but at the time of its inception in 942.M30 the world was still counted amongst those of the Cyclops Cluster. Gethsamaine Colonus was founded with expansion in mind, being located at the far edge of the Cluster and ideally suited for colonisation. In the sixty-four years before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, Gethsamaine prospered and had reached the state of a proto-Hive World with much of its planetary surface given over to sprawling ferrocrete cities and manufactura, boasting its own planetary defense troops and limited Armada Imperialis ''docking facilities. Gethsamaine was one of the very first worlds to surrender and submit itself to Dark Compliance after the Warmaster’s rebellion. It also remains famed to this date for being the location of the devastating "Raid on Gethsamaine" which heralded the beginning of the Age of Darkness, a continuous hot-state of war between Imperial Loyalist and Traitors that still endures ten thousands years after Horus' death. *'Goth''' *'Grist' *'Gunnar's Rock' *'Jujya' *'Mezoa '- Founded first as an outpost of the Lucien Mechanicum in 540.M30 before the Great Crusade took to the stars, Mezoa was recognized as an independent Forge World as soon as 813.M30, a tremendeously quick rise to power whose origins undoubtedly lie within the extremly rich planetary crust of their volcanic homeworld. Suffering repeatedly from the baleful attentions of the Mitu Conglomerate during its centuries of isolation,Mezoa became an extrordinary war-like society, the planet being ringed by autonomous planetary defence batteries, kill-satellites and spatial mine fields that turned it into a nearly impregnable fortress. Brought peacefully into the fold of the Imperium by its rediscovery through the 7th Expeditionary Fleet, Mezoa soon dedicated its industrial might to the productions of weapons, ammunitions and warship hulls, notoriously becoming tasked with the supply and expansion of the naval base of Port Maw in the neighbouring Manachean Commonwealth. If in terms of pure production capacities Mezoa was outmatched by its ancestral rival of M’Pandex, it has nevertheless always been considered as proeminent under the Forge-Worlds of the Cyclops Cluster and indeed the entire Coronid Deeps. While its Taghmata was numerically speaking inferior to that of M’Pandex, Mezoa’s forces almost entirely consisted of the advanced Thalaxii template, far superior to the Adsecularis used en masse by M’Pandex. Mezoa’s last line of defence was consistuted by their worlds own volcanic nature, the high temperatures and geological instability rending deployment of Titan-class weaponry suicidal. All this factors would contribute to Mezoa’s continued independence, even during the dark years of the Horus Heresy when forces loyal to the Traitor Warmaster would seek to conquer it. Several attacks were succesfully pushed back, and the Traitors were give no other choice than to cordon off Mezoa and upheld its blockade for the entire duration of the conflict. *'Moab' - Moab is a chill and bleak but life-sustaining world which under other circumstances would likely not have been colonised. In Moab's case however two factors intervened to tip the balance in favor of human settlement: firstly the rarity of life-sustaining worlds within the Cyclops Cluster itself -- which made every such world, however bleak, far more valuable to the Imperium that it should readily be -- and secondly the planet’s own location at the crossings of several stable Warp-routes, which readily made it the proverbial gate to the Cyclops Cluster. In the span of a few decades Moab became a populous world, first as a dormitory world for the Great Crusade’s armies venturing in the northern reaches of the Ultima Segmentum, then for mining expeditions and settlers being shipped out to the Cluster's numerous mining colonies. This steady influx of people warranted the extension of Moab's administrative facilities until it not only became an independent world with a native population of several tens of millions souls, but also the Cyclops Cluster's administrative Sub-capital. As the manpower relocated to Moab were often constituted from populations of recently Compliant or resistant worlds, conditions on Moab were particularly harsh, the population being controlled through force of arms and water rationing. Moab's sole resource of interest was its people, a human "livestock" that could be used as manpower by both parties. The world suffered harshly during the Horus Heresy, its anarchic descent into chaos being commonly referred to as the Sorrow of Moab. Despite this dark chapter in its history, Moab still counts as one of the many worlds of the Imperium's fold in the 41st Millennium. *'Moravasis' * M'Pandex - M’Pandex is the Cyclops Cluster’s second Forge World that -- although considerably older than its rival -- has ever stood in the shadow of Mezoa. Founded in distant past when the Mechanicum launched vast Explorator arks out into space during the Age of Strife, M’Pandex suffered much through its isolation from the wider realms of Mankind, decaying and loosing much of its technological knowledge until even its sacred God-Machines, the great Battle Titans fell into disuse. Discovered through luck by vessels of the 90th Expeditionary Fleet, M'Pandex joined the Imperium willingly, which heralded the Forge World’s rebirth. Through major efforts of the Mechanicum of Mars M'Pandex was restored, its production capabilities soon to rival those of far greater Forges such as Vannaheim or even mighty Lucius. Eternally indebted to Mars and its Fabricator-General in particular, the ruler of M'Pandex -- the High Ourteka M'andii of the Golden Forge -- would pledge his loyalty and that of his world to Kelbor-Hal and through him to Horus. *'New Providence - '''New Providence was an arid world on the warp-route leading to Taracanis whose surface had been given over to vapour mills in which thousands of workers toiled. New Providence exports almost went entirely to the benefit of the Forge World of Mezoa, which made it a prime target for the Mechanicum Taghmata of M’Pandex. In the ensuing battle, thousands of fleeing workers were butchered by both sides as the inhuman battle-automata sought to confront each other, giving no consideration or quarter to the civilias trapped between their lines. *'Rabbasan''' *'San Pardor' *'Vargas' *'Zavarich' - Zavarich is one of the few Agri-worlds to be located within the Cyclops Cluster and whose growing importance within the Cluster promised it a rich and bountiful future. Zavarich has always been a Feudal World, even before it was brought bloodlessly into Imperial Compliance by the 611th Expeditionary Fleet in 876.M30. Having rallied the Imperial fold, Segmentum authorities decided to turn Zavarich into an Agri-World, its production centered on high-yield tharac-wheat with Grox and Macro-krill herds as secondary complement. In the decades following its compliance, Zavarich became increasingly more important for the Cluster's economy, which motivated an influx of colonists and agri-workers being directed to the planet to further increase its productivity. A census conducted just before the outbreak of the Heresy situated Zavarich's population at under three million souls which perhaps as much as a quarter of them being non-natives. This influx in population caused significant unrest as the colonist often took over developping and management roles, thus supplanting the natives, but more importantly the native population stubbornly adhered to their ancient autochthonic cultic belief systems whereas the colonists were all strong adherents of the Imperial Truth. Notable Military Campaigns *Xenocides Campaigns *'The Mitu Eradication (Unknown Date.M30)' - The Mitu Eradication was an Imperial xenocide campaign directed against the xenos pocket-empire known as the Mitu Conglomerate. While The Mitu Conglomerate’s core-worlds were mostly located in what had been the Manachean Commonwealth and the Cyclothrathine Holdfast, many worlds of the Cyclops Cluster also suffered from the Mitu’s rule. The war against the Mitu Conglomerate was foremost a naval war, constituted by savage boarding engagements between Imperial and xenos ships. Once naval superiority was ensured, planetary assaults were then conducted as to liberate the human worlds. It is a testimony to the strength of the Conglomerate that several Expeditionary Fleets drawn from the Solar Auxilia Cohorts and no less than three Space Marine Legions were necessary to bring their baleful rule to an end. The decisive battle was fought in the Manachea System, on Manachea Lux, while the Cyclops Cluster saw only minor engagements. It was however after the Mitu Eradication that contact was again made with much of the Cluster. *'The Gethsemaine Dark Compliance (006.M31)' - When a ship of the Traitor Legions, a Gladiator-class frigate of the Emperor’s Children penetrated into the Gethsamaine-system, Gethsamaine’s military authorities quickly despatched its two defence monitors, the Gaius Herab and the Brazen Bull, to investigate the matter. The IIIrd Legion ship was identified as the Malin Dawn, a loyalist ship that had tried to break away during the Istvaan III Atrocity but that would be boarded and destroyed from within while in the Warp. The ship’s Navigator would see it get to destination before her strength failed her, thus leaving the Malin Dawn a ghos-ship. While investigating, the Gaius Herab and Brazen Bull were attacked and destroyed by the Ikon and her escorts which quickly turned their weapons on Gethsamaine’s orbital batteries and astrophatic relay, thus severely disturbing Imperial navigation and communication channels. Gethsamaine Colonus itself was spared the depredations of the Sons of Horus, but was subjugated into following Horus. *'The Blockade of Mezoa' *'The Orhlacc Exodus' *'The Reaping' *'Death on Dominica Minor' *'The Sorrow of Moab' *'The Battle of Gethsemane (151.M40)' - The Battle of Gethsemane marks the beginning of Lord Amiral Ravensburg counter-attack during the famed Gothic War. During this prolonged naval battle that was to take place over several weeks, Lord Admiral Ravensburg personally led almost the entire might of Battlefleet Gothic against a splinter-fleet of Abaddon the Despoiler's Chaos Armada. The tables were however turned when a second Chaos fleet entered the system and tipped the balance of force in favour of the Traitors. Using the stellar dust fields to his advantage, Lord Admiral Ravensburg succeeds in forcing the Chaos fleet to fight his own fleet head-on where the Chaos warships suffered greatly. Trying to escape, the inopportune appearance of an Eldar fleet traps the Chaos fleet between two gun lines which results in a major Imperial victory. At Present Sources *''Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook'', pp. 94-95, 122, 145, 159 *''The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest'', by Alan Bligh, pp. 22-35, 66-68 Category:C Category:Galaxy Category:Imperium Category:Subsector